Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

The government's position is that we will work with the private sector, with business and with community groups—right across the board. We don't want to divide. We don't want to point the finger between the haves and have-nots and point the blame at anyone. We are dealing with significant economic challenges right now. Households are feeling it. There is no such thing as free money, Senator McKim. There is no such thing as free money going anywhere—that you can just do this and it will be just that. It doesn't work. We are dealing with these economic challenges that are thrown at us. As households are trying to find extra dollars, we are looking across our budget at ways we can re-prioritise and reinvest to deal with some of these cost-of-living pressures. But we are going to be honest about it and we are going to work across the community and business to make sure that we get these decisions right. And we're going to do what we said we were going to do before the election. (Time expired)